Nashville or Bust! Written by Christine T.

Today I am thrilled to share a very touching story from Christine. It truly is an inspiring story about the signs in her life.

Enjoy!

I have always been inspired by Heidi and her “believe in yourself” mentality. The story she shared in her last blog post about Signs was one that really resonated with me. Connecting with her story on so many levels, I thought that I might share mine.

I have many stories (don’t we all?), but taking guidance and inspiration from Heidi’s, this one too will focus on Signs.

A little bit about me.

My background is in Health and Fitness. (Though I used to be fairly over weight! 5’2” and 160 pounds to be exact.) The reason I tell you this is that most of my jobs have been in the Fitness Industry. Once I Iearned HOW to healthfully lose my weight and keep it off, I felt I wanted to share it with others who may be looking for a solution too.

I love making a positive impact on the lives of others. Watching people reach their fitness goals can be very satisfying, especially when you are part of their journey. For years, I taught spinning and Fitness classes at several gyms back in my hometown and managed a Sport Supplement Shop where I would help people with 12 week weight loss programs…I loved that job. Then my hubby got promoted at his work, so we moved to Ottawa. We left everything behind. Friends, family, my job, familiar faces and places.

I took a job working as a Health Counselor at Herbal Magic…which, if you are unfamiliar, is a Weight Loss Company. The money was terrible, in fact, it was pretty much minimum wage, but, I loved the job. Every day I got to help people who were struggling with their weight, reach their fitness goals. It was right up my alley. I was happy!

Fast forward, 1 1/2 years later.

The money at my job was still terrible, despite me having gone from a Counselor to a Manager of my own (TOP) branch and overseeing 5 locations. Go figure.

Why am I telling you this? Because I quit. yep….I quit this amazing job. I loved the job, but knew I needed to make more money!(Oh, the almighty dollar!) Ottawa is a very expensive city to love in and my job wasn’t cutting it, so I left and became a Branch Administrator for a Steel Company. So, this is the job I have been doing for the last 7 1/2 years. Needless to say that for the last 4 years, I have found it quite difficult to get up each and every day to go to a job that is less than fulfilling. (Dealing with contracts, payables, payroll, billing, etc..) working with paper, not people and feeling completely out of my element. But it is a great Company and working there allows me to live in Ottawa quite comfortably.

Fast forward to almost 2 years ago. The beginning of 2014, my world came crashing down. I was unhappy in my job, I mean, REALLY unhappy and I had no hope of things ever changing. Every day, I felt like a drone answering the phone, pushing paper, filing…..then things got worse.

February 24th of 2014, my amazing step-son Jonathan, who I had helped raise for the last 9 years of his life, was on his way to work in the early morning hours, and came across an overturned vehicle (on a very icy Highway 400). When he approached the vehicle, there was a man trapped inside. As Jonathan was trying to help free the man, a tractor trailer lost control and hit Jonathan. The man survived. Jonathan did not. He was only 21 years old. To this day, I still sit at my desk in the office and remember every single second of when the police came to tell us what had happened. I often have mesmerizing flashbacks.

Even though I was his “step-mom”, He was the only child that I had ever had and we were very close. This tragedy changed my world, it changed my husbands’ world. The last 2 years have been so painful. But, none more so then every first. Every first…Birthday….Thanksgiving…Easter…Christmas….our hearts were missing and broken. 4 months after losing Jonathan, Pierre (my husband) went in for open heart surgery….at 45 years old!!! We were so scared. I thought I was going to lose him too. But he had an Angel up above that kept watch over him and made sure he made it back to me.

Fast forward to a year ago, January 2015. The one year mark of losing Jonathan had been approaching, I was still feeling lost in my job and I was missing Jonathan each and every single day. Feeling so overwhelmed and depressed, I was ready for something to change in my life.

This may be somewhat confusing, but important, so I digress…… Pierre and I were first introduced to Country music by Jonathan the summer before he passed. Never in my life did I think I would become a fan…but I did and the 3 of us spent all Summer on our deck listening to Country and enjoying good times together. That first Christmas after losing Jonathan, I desperately needed to get away from it all and wanted to feel close to Jonathan again so tried to convince many friends to go to Nashville with me! No one bit the hook, and Pierre wasn’t ready for that.

Back to January 2015. Depressed and overwhelmed, I felt like I was losing myself and everything I was meant to be. February (the one year mark of Jonathan’s death), I was scrolling on Facebook and came across this ad. It asked “Do you love to help others?” “Do you want to work from home?” “Do you love to work out or want to start?” etc…..every question’s answer was YES!!! “What the heck is this?”, I thought. “Is this a sign?.” I knew it was an ad so I was quite skeptical, but I reached out. I was connected to a guy named Teri. As we spoke about my goals in fitness and in life, I felt something familiar about it. As I had been having an ongoing discussion with a girl I worked with about a family member of hers and this NEW venture she was on. She had actually told me(several times) that I would be perfect at it, but I disregarded it. So I asked Teri “Are you a Beachbody Coach?” Yep. He sure was. I wasn’t really familiar with it, but I did know that they were at home workout programs (you know, the ones from late night television), and that he was a Coach for them. I wasn’t really sure what it entailed, but it sounded right up my alley!!

After talking with Teri about the opportunity, I told him I needed to research more. I thought maybe there was a workshop or seminar on it that could give me more information. So, I Googled it. What came up astounded me! There was, in a couple of months, a Conference for Beachbody……and guess where it was being held for the first time ever…..NASHVILLE! “Whoahh…this is crazy”, I thought. I had tried for months to get to Nashville and to get connected to something I am passionate about and here, right in front of me is this opportunity all rolled up in one! I decided that LIFE was too short to be doing something that I didn’t love anymore and that I wanted to do what I had always been passionate about…helping others. I wanted to GO FOR IT. I don’t want to live my life with regrets, or “What if’s” any longer, life is too short.

The last sign came when I hesitantly told me hubby what had happened and when I told him I wanted to do this, I needed to do this and that I was MEANT to do this. I wanted to go to Nashville and I wanted him to come. He, without hesitation said YES! THAT was a big deal, because in the 9 years we had been together, we had NEVER taken a Holiday somewhere exciting together, ever.

To make a long story short, (kind of), we went. It was amazing. We had many moments “with Jonathan” there and I found what I had been looking for.

I have been a Coach now for nearly 1 year…I am still working at my Full time job as an Administrator, but somehow each day is more tolerable as I now see it as a stepping stone, not my FOREVER. I was able to quit the part time job I was working on top of that. This year I will start teaching Live Fitness Programs to people and will be focusing on inspiring others to go for it!

Since I’ve found Coaching,I have changed. The opportunity has helped me through the hardest time in my life. Working on ME from the inside is what has helped change me so that I can help change others. I am learning to push past my doubts and fears, and am just GOING FOR IT! I have pushed myself OUT of my comfort zone more than I ever have in my life and it feels good! I finally feel like I have more control over my life and my future. I am living my passion in helping others. How gratifying is that? I am living a healthier life both physically and mentally.

I am grateful in all aspects of my life. Gratitude is daily for me now. I find I have more compassion for people, in turn it makes me feel more fulfilled. I am opening myself up to new experiences and I am finding the strengths in me that I didn’t know I had.

I am a long way from my goal of leaving my full-time job and helping others all day, every day. But with hard work, compassion and consistency, I know that I will be able to live the life I dream of.